> Why is Runegate called like that? Except its location and that a battle
> happened there, what is known about this city (or rather this fort?)
In David Hall's campaign, I learned that one of the city gates is made of three stones leaning together, a dolmen in the form of a Luck Rune.
/ \
/ \
It's called the Fools Gate, but the people cowering underneath it were the only ones who survived when the Crimson Bat landed on the city in 1602.
To the Greydog Clan, Runegate is the "big city" nearby -- it's where we go to market, to buy cattle and horses. (And, embarrassingly, armour... but that's another story, and besides we were young and didn't know any better).
"Enclosure" tells me that many years ago it was the tribal centre of the Hyaloring Triarchy, allegedly built by Hyalor Horsebreaker before the Dawn. Used to be an Elmal temple there, but it may have gone West when the Sun Dome Temple was resettled in Dragon Pass (in Tarkalor and Monrogh's time).
I think many of the "forts" in Sartar (the generic English term in Dragon Pass is "stockades") started out rather like Celtic oppida or hill-forts: defensible tribal population centres, with earthwork ramparts and palisades. Each was probably the centre for the tribe or clan on whose land it's now found. Since the coming of Sartar and relative decline of traditional inter-tribal warfare, they'll have grown rich and fat, spreading beyond those early walls and gaining a wealthy merchant class, more skilled crafters (the guilds of Sartar?), etc.
Sartar's Peace was a great thing for "townsfolk" -- how long would little Apple Lane last, undefended, without tribal ties, full of portable wealth and talent, back in the Good Old Days?
There are probably permanent Lunar garrisons at strategic locations throughout Sartar, but I don't think any of these have been definitively or reliably placed. Use what seems sensible in your game. I doubt every poky little town or stockade has a troop of redcloaks, or you wouldn't get to shout "The Redcloaks are coming!" when they do turn up. But a good strategic or defensive position in rebellious territory surely won't be overlooked. (Though the troops posted to it might wish it had been!)
> "Autel noir" (black altar), "Sanctuaire de Tarndisi" (Tarndisi's
sanctuary),...
> Did I miss something or are these notes explained somewhere?
There was a box in "RQ Adventures #1" by John Castellucci, explaining who Tarndisi was (a singed dryad: the Cinder Pits were half of her grove, and she was half-charred by their loss). If you go into Tarndisi's Grove, you may meet her:
: To Men she cloaks her scarred side and appears as a beautiful forest dryad,
: naked and frolicking in the trees. Uz and other folks of darkness only see : the burnt and inedible portions of her body, and they are repulsed by it. : Only Aldryami see her true appearance and recognise the sadness in her : half life.
Dunno about the Black Altar, but it sounds sinister, doesn't it? I'd use it as the catch-all site for Evil Darkness Rituals in my game: there isn't a single cult or species acting as owner or user, but it's a known place where Dire Things happen after dark, so don't go out after sunset, kiddies, or else...
> Why is Larnste's Table (I'm not sure about the english name) magical?
Why is Ayer's Rock magical? Because it *is*.
There may be a story, but I can't remember it. Anything in Stevie's Index?
> Except for Farang Farosh (and Delecti), is any human of EWF possibly still
> alive?
Of course: the existence of those two proves it's possible. But any others aren't as famous as the two you name, so they may not be known or contactable (or, say, aware that they're EWF survivors).
Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>
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